Retired Teachers in California Earn More Than Working Teachers in 28 States
posted at 3:59 pm on April 1, 2011 by Mike Antonucci
I came across the most recent summary report for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) and I thought its pared-down tables and graphs nicely encapsulated the pension situation in the state.
First note that the average annual salary in 2010 for active working educators enrolled in the system was $64,156. The next table states that the average retirement benefit paid out in 2010 was $4,256 per month. That’s $51,072 annually. In other words, the average retired teacher in California made more than the average working teacher in 28 states, according to the salary rankings published by NEA.
The final graph in the report provides the big picture. While the value of the pension system’s assets has increased fairly steadily over the past nine years, the accrued liabilities have grown non-stop during the same period, leaving the fund at 78% of full coverage. What’s more, CalSTRS operated on an assumed annual return of 8 percent. Last year, the pension board lowered that expectation to 7.75 percent, which means projections for the future will show even more of a gap.
Last year, the CalSTRS CEO warned that returns of 20 percent annually would be needed to fund all pensions. Without further increases in revenue or cuts in benefits, the system could be completely broke in 35 years.
This post was promoted from GreenRoom to HotAir.com.
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Nice NOT work if you can get it. – John Stewart
mechkiller_k on April 1, 2011 at 4:02 PM
There’s a massive haircut coming for California government pensions, and it’s going to get ugly early.
slickwillie2001 on April 1, 2011 at 4:02 PM
Well then the other states better get with the program! They have Teh Childrenz to edumukate!
fiatboomer on April 1, 2011 at 4:03 PM
Fire ‘em all!!!
Oh, wait….
Dr. ZhivBlago on April 1, 2011 at 4:03 PM
Do ya think maybe high costs of living are driven by unionization?
Speakup on April 1, 2011 at 4:05 PM
My sister is one of them. She retired under what they call a “Golden parachute” at age 61.She is in the 55,000 dollar a year bracket. Oh and she has health care to.
sandee on April 1, 2011 at 4:09 PM
You know I’m as conservative as they come but I’ll tell you that from my experience in dealing with Los Angeles public school teachers, they don’t make enough money for what they are expected to accomplish in one of the most socially, economically and culturally diversified districts in the USA. I don’t begrudge them a penny or a good retirement. $68 grand doesn’t get you a whole lot in L. A. either.
CCRWM on April 1, 2011 at 4:13 PM
LAUSD has laid off over 5000 teachers and bought out more than that so that they would retire and not decimate the ranks of the newer teachers.
CCRWM on April 1, 2011 at 4:16 PM
Well, obviously those teachers in the other 28 states need a hefty raise.
I’m pretty sure that’s the only conclusion any fair minded liberal could take from this information.
ButterflyDragon on April 1, 2011 at 4:17 PM
The working class heroes of the proletariat.
SlaveDog on April 1, 2011 at 4:18 PM
And the smart retired teachers will leave CA, with their pension and health benefits, and settle in TX or NV where the cost-of-living is much lower and there is no state income tax.
mydh12 on April 1, 2011 at 4:21 PM
Still half of the 57 states, so this is a moot point.
SouthernGent on April 1, 2011 at 4:24 PM
Screw the CA taxpayers coming and going.
States should impose some kind of residency requirement for govt employees. Want full pension/benefits? Gotta live in the state. Wanna leave? Fine. But you only get 70% of the pension/benefits.
angryed on April 1, 2011 at 4:25 PM
Given that you take the summer off, of course.
WitchDoctor on April 1, 2011 at 4:25 PM
That’s the kind of circular logic that drives me nuts. Why doesn’t $68K go far in LA? Because taxes are outrageous which makes everything from food to gas to housing more expensive. So then let’s pay govt workers more so they can afford to live there. Which means we have to raise taxes. Which means everything gets more expensive. Which means we have to pay govt workers more…..
angryed on April 1, 2011 at 4:28 PM
It won’t be without a massive fight, either. They had their chance to fix it this past election but decided to re-elect Moonbeam instead.
That same election also decimated the chances of getting an outright bailout of the state, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they managed to hide something that large in the ObamaCare legislation.
teke184 on April 1, 2011 at 4:31 PM
That statistic actually isn’t that helpful. The cost of living for a California teacher is substantially higher than that of a teacher in states like Arkansas, Utah, and Indiana. The article does say that retired teachers make 80% of their working wages in retirement. I’d be curious how THAT statistic stacks up to other states.
In any event, the underfunding of state pension systems is due to the fact that defined benefit plans are susceptible to systematic underfunding, whether due to the inherent difficulty of predicting rates of return & life expectancies 30 years into the future, or due to intentional underfunding. That’s why the private sector has largely abandoned defined benefit plans.
Outlander on April 1, 2011 at 4:37 PM
Interesting though that teachers in China or the USSR earn(ed) much much less, the collectivism unions idolize isn’t actually that generous, without a capital(istic) to prey on.
Speakup on April 1, 2011 at 4:41 PM
Typical GOP hypocrisy — and job-killing economics, too.
Who gives a flying fug if retired teachers get high pensions in expensive California? Why is this news? Who cares? Who really cares? Why don’t you dipships do what you claim you’re so good at and CREATE JOBS.
But nooooooooooooo … you HotAirheads would rather harass teachers. Why? Because you SUCK at creating jobs. You absolutely suck at it. Always have, too.
Let’s hear the outrage at the perverse wages of CEO in America.
bifidis on April 1, 2011 at 4:57 PM
Eventually you run out of other people’s money.
matthew26 on April 1, 2011 at 5:01 PM
There is a solution- the federal government could pass legislation that enables states to directly tax (withhold) pension income paid by that state. But I’m afraid this solution is too practical for high-minded, “all taxes are evil” conservatives so it will never happen.
bayam on April 1, 2011 at 5:09 PM
Typical liberal imbecile.
CEO: paid by private money
Teacher: paid by public money
See the difference moron?
angryed on April 1, 2011 at 5:09 PM
I can tell bififiifidis was educated in a public school by unionized teachers. It is simply unable to critically think about anything.
angryed on April 1, 2011 at 5:11 PM
The real headline should be …
“Retired teachers in California make more than retired military veterans”
Oh hell but … you could also use this …
“Retired teachers in California make more than the average soldier fighting in Afghanistan”
HondaV65 on April 1, 2011 at 5:13 PM
bifidis, easy. You’re going to hurt yourself. Calm down and go share with your support group at the NEA meeting. Really, it will all work out. Have a marvelous day!
Mason on April 1, 2011 at 5:14 PM
Pfft, Michael Moore says nuh-uh.
Midas on April 1, 2011 at 5:14 PM
I do not pay the wages of any CEO with my taxdollars. Okay well – I DO pay the salary of the CEO’s of Chrysler and GM – but I’m not happy about it.
HondaV65 on April 1, 2011 at 5:15 PM
Teaching requires no special skills. Anyone can teach. If teacher salaries were left to free market forces, teachers would make $10/hr at most.
angryed on April 1, 2011 at 5:15 PM
Are those the CEO’s being paid off by your buddy Obama? Like GE?
All of that happening under the watch of your Democrat/Liberal brethren.
Refer this video and post from yesterday.
catmman on April 1, 2011 at 5:18 PM
I think it is very brave of you to go after OLD RETIRED people.
After all they will be dead soon.
Observation on April 1, 2011 at 5:20 PM
Now the Democrats want to unionize the farmworkers here in California. Imagine what that will do to the state’s food prices?
Blue Collar Todd on April 1, 2011 at 5:22 PM
Why? They are law abiding, educated and have a ton of money to spend. Blame California not the teachers that took what the idiot local school districts readily gave them.
Retired educators live across the street from us, nicest house on the block. They are quiet, keep the place up nice and are friendly. I had no idea they were bagging a sick 130k combined in retirement.
FireBlogger on April 1, 2011 at 5:24 PM
You’re probably right. The number of people with education degrees who are working as nannies, teacher’s aides, day care center workers, preschool teachers, and even for coffee shops and such, are huge.
Outlander on April 1, 2011 at 5:31 PM
$130K a year for not working. And yet the media is always telling us how teachers are woefully underpaid. What’s even worse is that most gullible idiot Americans believe this garbage.
I didn’t mean to blame retired educrats for doing what they do. I am saying the system is set up poorly. The educrats steal from the state for decades. You’d think the state would at least force them to spend the money inside the state. But even that is asking too much I suppose.
angryed on April 1, 2011 at 5:35 PM
Anyone who hasn’t seen “Waiting for Superman”, I recommend it. You can get it at RedBox for $1.
Cindy Munford on April 1, 2011 at 5:40 PM
Not really. Those nice retired teachers are taking from the state what they demanded through their union, which corrupted state government through the use of their union dues to elect pro-union politicians.
They might be quiet now, but watch them get violent when the time comes to give back some of their bags of loot that they obtained through a corrupt system.
slickwillie2001 on April 1, 2011 at 5:42 PM
Commie!!!
LOL
Their pay should be based on a scale where they get no more than the cheapest skinflint in their city/county thinks they should get, because nobody works as hard or is as valuable to society as said skinflint.
Obviously, it’s not just a LAUSD problem but indicative of what’s going on in that region. For example, LAUSD has to budget over $300 million a year alone for free lunches for students…is that due to paying higher taxes for inflated salaries and benefits or is it that there’s a hell of a lot of poor families there? LAUSD currently has over $18 billion allotted for new school construction…even though they really don’t have the personnel to maintain the old ones or, apparently, to properly staff them with teachers.
They’re getting overwhelmed. You could cut all these salaries and retirements drastically and they’d still be screwed.
On the other hand Dems/Libs (as with the free lunch program) think that everyone should be taken care of to the max, but don’t ever seem to put much away so they have more breathing room in the future. Public schools have increasingly had to become de facto welfare centers.
Issues like ‘why aren’t these kids eating at home?’ are the ones I prefer to dwell on as I find them to be the most disturbing.
Dr. ZhivBlago on April 1, 2011 at 5:47 PM
It won’t take that long.
iurockhead on April 1, 2011 at 5:49 PM
Yeah, and I’m sure that unless you’re a contortionist, a sword-swallower or a pro ball player anyone could do what you did/have done.
Sounds like if teacher salaries were left to you, there wouldn’t be any teachers or schools. But we’d at least have workhouses for the poor I’m sure.
Dr. ZhivBlago on April 1, 2011 at 5:53 PM
angryed… Your name really suits your persona…sheesh! I hope you aren’t married and have kids.
Listen I like our teachers and I support them and my husband and I pay lots of taxes okay? Now if you are talking about administrators who are way overpaid and there are many then no I can’t stand them and neither do most teachers.
I believe that teachers contribute 6% of their pay to their retirement fund from the day they are hired so it’s not a total taxpayer cost.
Lastly from my office window here in downtown I can catch a glimpse of hundred of mostly Latino kids as they leave the nearby high school every day. I often worry that these nice hard working kids are being promised a future by liberal democrats that might never materialize because of the policies of the same liberal democrats.
CCRWM on April 1, 2011 at 6:11 PM
The free market says that’s not the case. I make a decent amount of money because not anyone can do what I do. Anyone can do anything within reason.
Teacher salaries should be left to the free market, not dictated by me. If the free market says a teacher is worth $65K, fine. But it’s not the market. It’s a union boss who says so and a Democrat governor who agrees.
Tell me, if someone is willing to teach for $10/hr why do you insist on paying them $65K a year? If you had a business and you could hire someone for $10, would you pay $65K instead? And of course it’s not $65K, it’s close to $100K when adding in the benefits, time off, pension, etc.
angryed on April 1, 2011 at 6:18 PM
And they don’t pay SS tax. So while everyone is paying 6.2% into SS the teachers pay 6%. They’re better off than the private sector right off the bat.
And the state matches well beyond the 6%, which is a taxpayer cost. Do the math. 30 years of 6% contributions out of a $65K a year salary does not come out to $50K a year retirement benefits for 20 years post retirement.
The state is putting in the majority of the retirement contributions on the teacher’s behalf. Teachers contribute about $110K into their retirement fund over their carrer. By year 3 of retirement they’re already taking more than they’ve put in.
Not sure what these nice Latino kids have to do with overpaid government workers. But it’s touching that you have concern for them.
angryed on April 1, 2011 at 6:24 PM
..no, he probably does not. Teaching a pig to sing, annoying the pig, and all that.
The War Planner on April 1, 2011 at 6:27 PM
So for all the defenders of CA teachers….you don’t mind that they are the highest paid, yet CA is anywhere from 48th to 50th in test scores?
On the other hand Montana and Utah are at the top of school test scores and…here’s the shocker…near the bottom of teacher pay.
Hmmmm. Imagine that.
angryed on April 1, 2011 at 6:27 PM
I had to comment on this. I’m a forensic accountant partner and sub-contractor for the State of California. We are under very tight nondisclosure docs however; we worked with Stanford University on their report concerning California’s unfunded public pension liability which is hitting $436 billion, yea, $436 billion.
My neighbor is a retired professor from Cal State Irvine at the tender age of 51. My husband and I both like he and his wife very much but after a few martini’s during the holidays I found out he’s accepting a full salary pension, vertical healthcare, dental, eye, etc. for the entire family of five. He accepts $170,000 per year. The man is a healthy 51 years old so I figure he has another 25-30 years of this. We live in a affluent neighborhood because of my job and husband owns his own business employing about 120 folks. I was aghast to find out that the majority of my neighbors are retired public sector retirees! Half of them under 55! Social consciousness is beginning to shift here. The public sector is just now beginning to show the signs of tarnish fast approaching pariah territory. Let’s hope this continues.
Tangerinesong on April 1, 2011 at 6:36 PM
Sorry, Stanford Study…
http://siepr.stanford.edu/system/files/shared/GoingforBroke_pb.pdf
Tangerinesong on April 1, 2011 at 6:38 PM
OK, and I wouldn’t say that you don’t deserve what you get for whatever it is you do. If someone comes by it honestly, then more power to them.
I am aware of the differences between private sector and government sector. The problems arise when the economy goes to crap. In boom times a person who wants to make a buttload of money would be crazy to be locked into a government salary system. People under those conditions can contract, start their own businesses, whatever and potentially become wealthy.
But, I think the major problem is to determine why those opportunities have dried up and if we as a nation can ever get it going the other way again.
I just don’t think that unions, teachers and other state employees have much to do with our national economic failure, but rather are easier to focus on than the deeper and more complex problems facing us.
We need to get Independents and Dems on our side…not drive them away with ideological attacks. We cannot do it alone.
Dr. ZhivBlago on April 1, 2011 at 7:19 PM
Come on, Ed…so if a California teacher moves to Montana or Utah they’ll quit being a crappy teacher and become a great one?
You know that California is inundated with uneducated, largely unskilled immigrants from Mexico. There’s the gangs, the crime, the drugs…that is not the fault of those teachers and I don’t envy what many have to endure. I guarantee you the vast majority care and do their damndest to teach theses kids, but are probably just lucky if they show up and behave in class (not just the Mexican ones, either).
Dr. ZhivBlago on April 1, 2011 at 7:24 PM
Songster
First, there is no Cal State Irvine. Perhaps you meant University of California at Irvine? Second, unless a person retires on disability no one is retiring from a state professorial job at age 51. No one retired from a state job of any sort at age 51 is receiving $170,00 per year, period – even in California. You can check it out.
Third, the cohort of teachers retired under 55 years old that you claim to know can’t be accurate. Perhaps you should ask to see their driver’s licenses? They may be pulling a fast one on you to make you look stupid.
Lastly, I’m not a forensic accountant but I am a member of British royalty, a scratch golfer, a neurosurgeon and a dance instructor at Arthur Murray (fancy, too).
The public pension situation is an abomination but let’s not, er,”exaggerate” or “embroider” in telling the story.
Mason on April 1, 2011 at 7:31 PM
Also, our state is near the bottom in teacher pay (47th) and is in the top ten for test scores (8th) and our governor and Republican legislators seem to think we still have it too good.
What has helped is holding students accountable for their learning. Teachers are obviously a huge part of the process, but if a kid doesn’t care then it doesn’t matter much what the teacher does or doesn’t do.
Dr. ZhivBlago on April 1, 2011 at 7:33 PM
Considering any effort to get this country’s spending under control is going to be “unfair” to somebody, I’m all in favor of being “unfair” to government union parasites. Take away their pensions and benefits entirely if that’s what it takes. I care every bit as little for their fate as they care for mine.
Blacklake on April 1, 2011 at 8:29 PM
I agree…let’s axe Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, unemployment, FDIC, get the Second Division out of Korea and disband them, SSI, install toll transponders on all vehicles/raise the gas tax so folks actually pay for all that wear and tear on the roads, get rid of the police because we have the Second Amendment anyway, end foreign aid, disband the Peace Corps, get rid of the court system (they’re all Libtards), get rid of drivers licenses/tags, close the schools, make sure all hospitals are privatized and actually charge according to market forces, charge homeowners for street maintenance in front of their houses (same for all businesses), deregulate utilities so they can charge according to market forces, close the prisons and jails (see above-won’t need ‘em), close the national parks and open them up for private development, hand over waterways to private businesses and let them charge boater usage fees and fishing licenses according to market forces, shut down the FDA and EPA because their lame regulations eat into profits, quit trading with other countries altogether because we have everything we need here, ah hell-go ahead and disband the military because we have two big oceans to protect us anyway, do away with the Americans With Disabilities Act because cripples are just whiners and ramps cost businesses $, privatize all currently public transportation and let the company decide who does and doesn’t sit in the front, close down public museums and art galleries because they’re nothing but enclaves for gay artists, Communists and evolutionists, do away with the Federal free lunch program because American kids are too fat anyway.
Do away with child labor laws because kids need to learn responsibility early on, don’t really need education if they learn how to make $, and therefore won’t be indoctrinated by Libtards.
Feel free to add.
That’s most of what I’ve picked up on the net over the years from “Conservatives” and if you disagree with any of the above, you’re obviously a Liberal.
Dr. ZhivBlago on April 1, 2011 at 9:23 PM
Most states do not tax pension income for government retiree. Does that apply to retired teachers in California na make that deal even sweeter?
bayview on April 1, 2011 at 10:09 PM
How many jobs have you created?
BruceB on April 1, 2011 at 11:19 PM
So, $4200 per month is an average?
That is $1000 per week, or to divide it up further for the 40 hour work week- $25 an hour for retirement.
So you can pay three people over $8 an hour to work or pay one retired person $25 an hour not to work. That is absolutely insane.
Theophile on April 2, 2011 at 5:52 AM
You mean all of those old retired people who instituted generational theft forcing my generation (and many after mine, it would seem) to subsidize their entire lives?
Yes, I will call them out on it.
I am sorry, but many, many people of my generation, Generation X, and the younger one, Generation Y, will go Galt and walk away rather than work our entire lives to pay for the selfishness of the Baby Boomers who have bankrupted this country.
I will not be made an indentured servant all of my life to pay for the pampered lives of those who could not live within their collective means (and for no good reason) who went before me.
They could not be bothered with fixing a broken system. In fact, when faced with a choice, they decided to gum up the system even more with more and more and yet even more nanny state entitlements (cradle to grave health care for everybody, two years of unemployment, paid prescriptions, etc., etc., etc.).
They could not be bothered with the math of a deficit as large as the GNP.
They could not be bothered with the reality that socialism doesn’t work.
They could not be bothered with the reality that printing money doesn’t work.
They could not be bothered with the reality that by dis-incentivizing hard work and risk and by incentivizing dependency and laziness will lead to a lethargic, dim-witted and lazy population.
They kicked the can down the road over and over again.
And, now the can is the size of a mountain and they are crying that reality won’t allow them to cheat math any longer. They are crying because they may actually have to pay the piper within their lifetimes. They are crying because they have run out of money to borrow or steal. They are crying because they killed the goose that laid the golden egg due to their eternal greed and short-sightedness.
In many ways, as a generation, they are still spoiled children who never grew up and were never told “no”.
Economically, they have been all too willing to cannibalize the futures of their children and grandchildren just to make their lives cushier. It is disgusting.
I still remember the T.V. commercial in 1984(?)when the kids of the future (the year 2010?) put the older people on trial for bankrupting the country and destroying their lives. And it ended with an ominous statement at the end that the national debt was at $2 Trillion. Now the annual deficit is almost $2 Trillion.
The situation has become absurd beyond belief and, yes, I am willing to call out anybody who has been a part of making things the way that they are.
Theophile on April 2, 2011 at 6:38 AM
Ah, here is the commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiBCRQL58_k&feature=related
It was from 1986 and is set in 2017. (I think that my memory served me decently- I wasn’t off but by a couple of years for the inception date and I had not seen that commercial in well over 20 years.)
Anyways, like I said, that was when the total Debt was $2 Trillion. Now we have annual deficits at nearly $2 Trillion.
At this rate, the scene in the commercial may actually come true at the designated time, 2017.
P.S. Thanks to my friend Tim for find the commercial for me.
Theophile on April 2, 2011 at 6:49 AM
Neither party can create jobs. Businesses and government can create jobs. But government can only create jobs on a sustainable level based on the taxes they get from the private sector, unless the government can make money (besides printing it) which they can’t.
Republicans say they can “create” jobs by making concessions to businesses and draw them in with tax incentives. I don’t think that’s working anymore. Businesses will circle the wagons and accumulate wealth and hold back their $ just like the rest of us do in such an economy.
Dr. ZhivBlago on April 2, 2011 at 11:41 AM
Isnt it all relative? I mean you live in a high tax ($10,000 – property($3000) and school taxes($7000) and $10000 is the low end where i live), high cost (gas, food, rent) area than you are going to need to make more to survive. Now if you pay $2000 in taxes and the cost of living is much cheaper, you make less. The more rural you go, the cost seems to go down but so does pay. So while it seems they make allot, they also spend allot in taxes and cost of living. It evens out.
Greed on April 2, 2011 at 1:00 PM